Issue: February 2025
Steve Coogan and the phantom of Sellers
Denied the chance to play his comedy idol in a biopic, the Alan Partridge star has found another way
Murder, incest — a limping collapse
Inquests aimed at cooling tempers became trials of strength, fanning the flames of partisan politics
The good book?
The show is a handy barometer of changing sensitivities about free speech in comedy
Lines from The Shire
To write poetry was one of Tolkien’s first ambitions
Finding true north
Quite unintentionally, Trump has provoked a revival in Canadian nationalism
Beware the slippery slope
People are often less high-minded than legislators imagine
Peston’s Inbox
Have I mentioned Keir’s learning to do magic?
Bust the big tech cartel
Google and Meta’s market-rigging costs every household around £1,000 a year
French spy classic rebooted in English
It’s like being at a party with people you think you know — who then turn out to be someone else
Who needs NATO?
If it has a purpose, it’s not to defend against a non-existent foe, but to ensure US patronage
Most Read
American strategy in Iran is wiser than it seems
President Trump’s intervention will leave the world safer than it was
Saint Nicola
Nicola Sturgeon wants sympathy for her husband’s crimes—but after years spent avoiding awkward questions, her latest reinvention may be the hardest sell yet.
The lonely death of Henry Nowak
We must draw lessons from a horrendous and disgraceful case
Rewatching the English
English identity has become too surreal and discomfiting to define
A failed war on fags
The black market has taken over the tobacco trade Down Under
Soft-Play Britain
Britain’s governing class talks of growth and grandeur but focuses on planters and paint schemes
Keeping the faith
Brexit triumphalists can’t understand how other people living in the UK in 2026 do not share their enthusiasm
Peston’s Inbox
Keir has my complete backing – Wes
Damaged brains and troubled souls
Dana White, of all people, should not be so dismissive of the salience of mental suffering
The mirage of majesty
Royal charm cannot disguise Britain’s shrinking power in a transactional world
Anyone could have predicted
Left-leaning commentators should not pretend to be surprised by the consequences of multiculturalism
The roots of hatred
Antisemitism, an ancient subject, has once again become a hot topic
Slim down the university system to save it
It has become too bloated and too expensive
Scandalous but Scottish
Why Scotland experienced another yellow wave
From triple lock to price caps
Opinium polling for The Critic reveals the totemic pension policy has entrenched a politics that demands control over growth
A memo crying in the wilderness
Why does the Church of England now sound like an HR department?